Comply Chain (US Department of Labor Resource)

SUMMARY OF RESOURCE

Child and forced labor in supply chains present serious and material risks to companies and industries. To help mitigate these risks, the U.S. Department of Labor presents Comply Chain: Business Tools for Labor Compliance in Global Supply Chains.

The app targets companies and industry groups seeking to develop robust social compliance systems for their global production. Comply Chain provides a practical, step-by-step guide on critical elements of social compliance, and is designed for companies that do not have a social compliance system in place or those needing to strengthen their existing systems. An integrated social compliance system includes: engaging stakeholders and partners, assessing risks and impacts, developing a code of conduct, communicating and training across the supply chain, monitoring compliance, remediating violations, independent review, and reporting performance and engagement. The app contains many examples of specific good practices that companies, industry groups, and multi-stakeholder initiatives have put in place in these eight areas.

LINK TO RESOURCE

https://www.dol.gov/general/apps/ilab-comply-chain

Learning Objectives

• Eradicating child labor and forced labor and educating children are fundamental government responsibilities. Companies’ social compliance programs can help fill critical gaps where governments have not yet developed full capacity; these programs, as outlined below, also fulfill other important responsibilities and objectives. At the same time, companies’ social compliance programs are not a substitute for strong government action to protect children and workers and should not be regarded as adequate substitutes for the responsibilities of governments.
• Companies have a variety of motivations for implementing social compliance systems. These may include laws and regulations, company reputation, shareholder pressure, and other motivations described in this section.

Key Terms

• Social Compliance System: A social compliance system is one component of a company’s broader corporate social responsibility (CSR), sustainability, or accountability program. A social compliance system is an integrated set of policies and practices through which a company seeks to ensure maximum adherence to the elements of its code of conduct that cover social and labor issues.

TOPICS COVERED

• Laws and Regulations
• Evolving Voluntary Standards and Authoritative Norms
• Company Reputation
• Marketing and Competitiveness
• Civil Society and Shareholder Pressure
• Loan Conditionality and Financial Due Diligence
• Improved Supply Chain Management
• Employee Recruitment and Retention
• Doing Good

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

1. ILO. Progress and potential: How Better Work is Improving Garment Workers’ Lives and Boosting Factory Competitiveness: A Summary of an Independent Assessment of the Better Work Programme;. 2016; available from https://betterwork.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/BW-Progress-and-Potential_Web-final.pdf.

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